Creole Red Beans and Rice

 I took my oldest on a "food trip" last Friday, and after stopping at Gizdich Ranch, Corralitos Market and Sausage Co, and Gayle's Bakery, we had a terrific spaghetti dinner.

Today I found i still had a couple of links of Corralitos Andoulle sausage, and figured I needed to do something with it. Luckily I found a recipe for Cajun Red Beans and Rice at Damn Delicious that I was able to twist to my needs.

Heres my Creole version of the recipe!

Ingredients:

    1 cup rice

    1 tablespoon vegetable oil

    1 (12.8-ounce) package smoked andouille sausage, thinly sliced or ham, diced

    1 medium sweet onion, diced

    1 bell pepper, any color, diced

    2 celery ribs, diced

    2 tablespoons lemon juice

    2 tablespoons tomato paste

    3 cloves garlic, minced or 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

    1 1/2 teaspoons Creole seasoning

    3 (15-ounce) cans red beans, drained and rinsed

    3 cups chicken stock

    1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

    Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

    2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions:

    In a large saucepan of 2 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.

    Heat vegetable oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Working in batches, add sausage, and cook, stirring frequently, until sausage is lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes; set aside.

    Add onion, bell pepper and celery. Use the lemon juice to deglaze the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.

    Stir in tomato paste, garlic and Cajun seasoning until fragrant, about 1 minute.

    Stir in red beans, chicken stock, hot sauce, and sausage; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Uncover; continue to simmer until reduced, an additional 15 minutes.

    Using a wooden spoon, mash beans until slightly thickened, if desired; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

    Serve immediately, topped with rice and garnished with parsley, if desired.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

 I’ve been searching for a good recipe for Stuffed Bell Peppers, and finally had to wave the white flag. Nobody has a good recipe. Until I created one today.

I feel like everyone else’s recipe are too bland. Hamburger? Nah. We’re not making cheeseburgers here! We’re stuffing bell peppers!

Yep, this is my recipe, tested on my family. At least one of my kids was upset that it didn’t make more.

So here’s my recipe for Stuffed Bell Peppers:

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients 

4 large bell peppers, any color

1 lb ground mild Italian sausage

1-1/2 cups chopped Roma tomatoes 

3/4 cups peeled and chopped summer squash or zucchini 

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup onion, chopped 

1 tbsp Italian seasonings 

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 

2-4 tbsp olive oil 

1 cup grated cheddar jack

1 cup white rice, cooked

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 

8 slices fresh mozzarella 

Brown and crumble the Italian sausage. While it’s cooking, cut the bell peppers in half and remove the ribs and seeds. Finely chop the Roma tomatoes, squash, onion, and peel the garlic. Once the sausage is browned and crumbled, transfer to a bowl, and caramelize the onion in the same pan that the you cooked the sausage in. Add the tomatoes and squash. Allow to simmer and add the garlic and Italian seasonings, adding olive oil if the sausage fat is absorbed quickly. Reduce the temperature and allow to thicken and reduce. Add the balsamic vinegar and simmer for another minute. Turn off the heat and add the rice, sausage, cheddar jack, and Parmesan cheeses and mix thoroughly. Place the peppers into a casserole dish just big enough to hold them, and fill each half with the mixture. Add up to 1-1/2 cups of water to the dish around the peppers, then cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Uncover, place a slice of mozzarella on each, and return to the oven for another 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Garlic Butter

 Time for another quick recipe, this one adapted from AllRecipes.

I recently decided to fix grilled burgers for dinner (I know, in summer?!? What am I thinking? The shame!) and I decided to try something decidedly different. I smeared the buns with garlic butter and grilled them in the last 5-10 minutes on the same grill I used to fix the burgers. I left the meat unseasoned, because it probably would have been too much.

But, damn, those were good! Very possibly the best I have ever made.

For the garlic butter, I used a recipe I found at All Recipes and I (wait for it!) modified it. Here's my version.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup softened butter (1 cube)

1-1/2 Tsp minced garlic

3 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese (shelf stable powder works, but fresh is better)

1-1/2 Tsp garlic salt

1/2 Tsp Italian seasoning or French Herb de Provence

1/4 Tsp ground black pepper

1/4 Tsp ground paprika

Just mix it all together. Easily doubled.

For garlic bread, cut a loaf of French bread lengthwise and smear with the butter, and toast open face up under a broiler. Or smear on hamburger buns or sandwich rolls and grill or griddle over medium heat for a wonderful addition to your hamburger or salmon patty sandwich!

Pork Chop Rub

It was hot yesterday, in the 100 degree range. Weather like that demands grilling outside, if for no other reason than to keep the house a bit cooler. I knew I didn't have anything to grill, and as I started to think about what I was going to buy, I felt that I needed to fix something I usually don't. Pork chops spring to mind, and when I got to the store, I found they were less than $1.30/lb. That was less than half of the price for any kind of beef.

I didn't want to just grill them plain, so I started to look up recipes online. I found this rub at heygrillhey.com, and tried it. Here's my modification.

Ingredients

3 Tbs brown sugar

3 Tsp kosher salt

1-1/2 Tsp cracked pepper

1-1/2 Tsp paprika

3/4 Tsp ground mustard

1/2 Tsp cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients. Prepare a grill for cooking and allow to heat to 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the rub into 4 pork chops and rub into the meat. Sear on each side 2-3 minutes, then move to indirect heat for 5-8 minutes until an internal temperature of 145 degrees is reached. Remove from heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving to preserve internal moisture.

Enchilada Sauce

I always figured it would be difficult to make a good red sauce for enchiladas.

I was so very wrong.

I looked it up recently to find out how to make it, and discovered that I had almost everything in my pantry. In fact, I could have made the sauce without a trip to the store if I wanted a basic version. I did need corn tortillas to make the enchiladas, so I had to make the trip anyway, so I picked up some good chicken stock for it.

Otherwise, this is just a slightly modified version of the recipe on gimmesomeoven.com.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Grape Seed, Olive, or Avocado Oil 

2 Tablespoons flour

1/4 Cup Chili Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Cumin

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Cocoa Powder

1/4 Teaspoon Dried Oregano

2 Cups Chicken Stock

1/4 - 1/2 Teaspoon salt

Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute, whisking constantly.  Add in the chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, cocoa powder, and oregano and cook for 1 more minute, whisking constantly. Gradually pour in the stock, whisking constantly to combine until no lumps remain.  Continue cooking until the sauce reaches a simmer.  Then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain the simmer (the sauce should continue lightly bubbling) for about 10-15 minutes, uncovered, until the sauce has slightly thickened. Give the sauce a taste and season with salt, as needed.  (I typically add 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, but the saltiness of the sauce can vary depending on the brand of stock that you use.) Use immediately.

Note: You can mix together the dry ingredients and store them for up to several months in a Ziploc bag or another airtight container for later use, then just fix it more or less as above.

Crumpets

 I’ve been experimenting with a new electric griddle my wife had me buy recently, and I was inspired to try to make traditional English Crumpets. I found a recipe at The Spruce Eats that works well, and then (here it comes!) modified it. I’m going to post the less modified version, and then my modifications to make it a shelf-stable mix for the pantry!

You will want a set of at least 4 stainless steel crumpet or English muffin rings to make this. Don’t get cheap aluminum ones. Stainless isn’t that much more, and won’t deform in your cabinets or drawers.

Crumpets

3-½ cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1-1/2 cups warm milk

1-¼ tsp active dry yeast

1-1/2 cups warm water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Mix together flour, sugar, powdered milk, and yeast. Mix in warm (not boiling) water and milk until batter is thick and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place until it doubles-1 to 2 hours. Wisk the baking powder and salt into the batter. Heat a griddle to 350-400 degrees, or a heavy bottomed frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. Brush oil onto the griddle or pan bottom, and the inside of your crumpet rings. Fill crumpet rings about half to three-quarters full of the batter and cook for 5 minutes until there are many tiny holes on the surface. Flip crumpet and ring over and continue to cook 2-3 minutes.

To make as a mix, replace the milk with 6 tablespoons of powdered milk and add it to the flour, sugar, and yeast, and increase the water to 2-1/2 cups. I store the baking powder and salt together in a small ziploc bag, and the other ingredients in a large ziploc bag (throwing the small one inside it.)